DATE CONSUMED
Sunday, October 21, 2012
VINTAGE
2009
WINERY/PRODUCER
Babcock Winery
WINE NAME
N/A
TYPE OF WINE
Red
COMPOSITION
100% Pinot Noir
SUBNAME/NICKNAME
Rita’s Earth
VINEYARD DESIGNATION
N/A
REGION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)
ALCOHOL CONTENT
13.6%
PRICE PAID
We bought this wine at BevMo during their 5Cent Sale (buy one bottle at
regular price ($22) and get the second bottle for a nickel), resulting in a net
price of about $11 per bottle (an outrageous bargain for a Santa Rita Hills (SRH)
Pinot Noir, assuming the wine is a quality, typical SRH Pinot).
WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED
We almost NEVER buy a bottle of wine at a store and drink it
right away. Most of our whites are
cellar aged for at least a year and most of our reds are cellar aged for a
couple of years or more. But since we
bought this wine on sale and the sale ends tomorrow, we had to open this wine
WAY before we normally would. At home
and at restaurants where we bring our own wine, we would never drink a 2009
Pinot this soon after harvest. We just
recently started drinking our 2008 Pinots and will continue to drink our 2008s
for another year or two or three. But
again, since BevMo’s sale ends tomorrow, we had to see if this wine was worth
buying a case or two based on the price-to-quality ratio.
BOUQUET
This wine exhibits classic SRH Pinot traits. As I’ve said/written before, there’s a certain
“je ne sais quoi” about Pinots from the SRH that’s difficult to explain. If you’ve had several/many Pinots from the
SRH, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. SRH Pinots exhibit a sense of terrior perhaps
better than any other varietal/region on the planet. I can usually tell within nanoseconds if a Pinot
hails from the SRH. Melville, Sanford, Brewer-Clifton,
and Alma Rosa (just to name a few) make fantastic Pinots from the SRH where
after one sniff or sip you know that there’s a bottle/glass of SRH Pinot in
front of you.
This wine exhibits the usual Pinot aromatic traits, such as
spices (pepper and savory herbs), red fruit, and tons of earth/terrior, not to
mention those “je ne sais quoi” SRH traits.
TASTING NOTES
We’ve been to Babcock’s tasting room a couple of times over
the years and have always found at least one bottle worth taking home. We absolutely LOVE the Pinots from the SRH and
thoroughly enjoy going wine tasting in the SRH. So when I saw this wine on sale at BevMo, I
almost squealed like a pre-pubescent girl (just like I squealed when I saw
BevMo putting Robert Hall’s 2007 Port on their 5Cent Sale a few months ago (one
of our favorite ports in the world)).
Again, this wine is WAY too young to drink. It’s a bit tight and hasn’t fully
matured/opened-up, but it’s still a tasty SRH Pinot. Up-front there’s red fruit (raspberries and sour
cherries), savory herbs and black pepper, along with 500,000,000,000,000 pounds
of that precious, gorgeous, “je ne sais quoi” SRH terrior. There’s also just about the perfect amount of
oak (not too much, not too little). And
as previously mentioned, there’s plenty of earthy elements, vis-à-vis that
invaluable SRH terrior. If I’ve hammered
the SRH terrior to death, please forgive me. If you’ve tasted Pinots from Melville,
Sanford, and their various neighbors, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking
about. If you haven’t enjoyed a Pinot
Noir from the SRH, do yourself a favor and get your hands on one of the better
SRH Pinots (Melville and Sanford) and find-out what I’m talking about!
I previously scored Babcock’s 2007 Grand Cuvee Pinot 91
points and their 2006 Nook & Cranny Syrah 90 points, so obviously Babock is
capable of making quality SRH wines. Though
this wine is good, it doesn’t quite reach those previously-reviewed wines level
of excellence. Rita’s Earth lack the
depth-of-flavor that a fantastic SRH Pinot should possess. At $11 a bottle (at BevMo during their 5Cent
sale), this is a tough wine to beat. At
the regular price of $22 a bottle, I’d rather “go” with one of my favorite
sub-$10 bargain reds that are criminally good for the price.
PAIRING SUGGESTIONS
We paired this wine with an Italian pork roast stuffed with
herbs and roasted in the oven for hours until it completely fell apart (it was
broken down via a spoon). This wine
paired very well with the pork roast and would also pair well with just about
any red meat dish as well (steak and lamb, for instance).
AGING POTENTIAL
As previously mentioned, this is a very young wine that
should be aged/cellared for at least another year or two. Because the wine is nicely structured (young
tannins, low alcohol, not-too-sweet sugar level, etc.), it should continue to
age and mature well for another five to ten years.
SCORE (on a 100-point scale)
86
Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD,
EXCELLENT)
GOOD
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